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May 24, 2015 at 10:21 PMMay 24, 2015 at 10:34 PM

Volusia County court officials are reviewing the reasons behind why a judge wasn’t provided with a violent felon’s criminal history when he ordered the suspect released from jail.After Ricky McGriff’s pretrial release on his own recognizance — a release that does not require posting bail — police said the Daytona Beach man returned to his victim to terrorize her, inflicting two days of violence on the woman including repeated beatings and a rape.McGriff, 56, was arrested in the battery of the woman May 8. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. During McGriff’s first appearance, Circuit Judge James R. Clayton and prosecutors say they didn’t know McGriff was a lifelong felon with a violent history. And while prosecutors objected to McGriff’s release on his own recognizance (ROR) because of the violence in the May 8 incident, Clayton, without knowing the suspect’s past, said he was bound by the law to grant McGriff’s release, and ordered the suspect supervised by Pretrial Services.McGriff was ordered not to have any violent contact with the victim, not to use alcohol and drugs and that random urine tests would be done on him during his supervised release, Clayton said.Prosecutors say Volusia County’s Pretrial Services division should have presented documentation of McGriff’s past during the first appearance hearing.The court’s pretrial assessment staff researched McGriff’s criminal history, interviewed him and contacted the victim and compiled the information prior to McGriff’s first appearance May 9, said Ludi Lelis, spokeswoman for the 7th Judicial Circuit courts. The information provided to Clayton was not unlike the information provided for all the other cases heard that day, Lelis said. “During the hearing for this particular defendant, information regarding his criminal background was discussed verbally,” Lelis said. “All the parties — the State Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office, pretrial assessment, the victim and the judge — were present for this discussion.” But Judge Clayton was not specifically told of McGriff’s history of violent crimes, mostly committed in South Florida, or stints in prison, Lelis said.“That was not discussed with the judge. It was not mentioned in court,” she said.The State Attorney’s Office “also has access to the same criminal background information and during this hearing the prosecutor had an opportunity to address the judge about this defendant,” Lelis said.If those factors had been brought up, the judge’s decision would have been different, he said.“Had I known what I know now, I would not have ROR’d Mr. McGriff to Pretrial Services,” Clayton said in a brief phone interview this week.

McGriff spent May 8 using cocaine and drinking, police said, when he became angry with the woman over personal matters. He tried to break her arm while punching her, police said. The woman was beaten all night and McGriff stood over her holding a 5-inch fillet knife. He threatened to kill her as a 4-year-old watched, according to a police report. The woman’s name is not being released because police say she is a victim of sexual battery.When the woman ran from the apartment, McGriff chased her while armed with the knife, police said.Clayton said his decision to grant supervised release to McGriff was based on the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.“Unless a person is charged with a capital felony or a crime punishable by life, and there has to be proof of guilt, every person shall be entitled to pretrial release,” Clayton said.Other circumstances, like the victim being in court, also played a part in his decision, Clayton said. “She was present in court and did not object to Mr. McGriff’s being ROR’d to Pretrial Services,” Clayton said.Clayton said that if he had set bail May 9 for McGriff, he still would have come out of jail because all McGriff needed to do was come up with 10 percent of whatever amount of bail is set.“You can’t see into the future to know what a person would do,” Clayton said. “Most people released to pretrial services comply with the conditions of their supervised release.

Clayton was unaware that McGriff has a criminal history including 35 arrests dating back to 1977. He has been in prison 10 times since 1985, Florida Department of Corrections documents show. Violent crimes that sent McGriff away include robbery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a weapon and battery on a law enforcement officer.When McGriff got out of jail May 9, police say he started beating the same woman over the next couple of days. On May 12, the same day Lelis said McGriff checked in with a Pretrial Services officer, the suspect took the woman to the State Attorney’s Office and told her to convince prosecutors to drop the charges against him. The victim was told she could not drop the charges because the State Attorney’s Office had not received paperwork about the arrest.McGriff then spent two more days terrorizing the woman in a locked apartment, police said. McGriff hit, punched and kicked his victim, who was trying to protect her shoulders fearing the beatings would break them, according to McGriff’s arrest report. Pretrial Services officers do not go to the homes of people under supervised release to check on them, Lelis said.“There is nothing in the orientation report to indicate that there were problems at that point,” she said.McGriff drove the woman to work on May 14 and police were called. After McGriff was brought in on the latest charges, the woman begged police not to allow him to find her again, a report states.

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